Kaitlin Armstrong made her first appearance in court on Wednesday In Austin, where she pled not guilty to first-degree murder charges stemming from the death of Anna Moriah “Mo” Wilson per Fox 7.
Following the arraignment, her attorney Rick Cofer addressed the media outside the courtroom and said, “There’s a big picture here. This the beginning of a process that will play out in court and it should play out in court. We understand that there are questions that need to be answered and we look forward to doing so.”
“But we also have some questions of our own,” he continued, before accusing the Austin Police Department of “seemingly” ignoring important tips and presenting “inaccurate and misleading information” when seeking an arrest warrant for his client. He also wondered “who vandalized the home of Kaitlin Armstrong and Colin Strickland the night of Wilson’s death and why?”
“Unfortunately, a lot of the information that’s been presented so far in the media is simply not accurate,” he continued, questioning the validity of law enforcement sources. “Simply put, there is a lot more to this story that has yet been heard.”
He said her legal team plans on challenging both the investigation and conduct of the Austin PD, but refused to answer questions — like why their client fled the country.
The trial is expected to take place in October.
Armstrong was arrested earlier this month in Costa Rica in connection with the May 11 shooting of cycling pro Anna Moriah “Mo” Wilson in Austin, Texas.
Wilson had been staying at friend’s home in the city after traveling from San Francisco for a local race and was found bleeding and unconscious in the residence. She was pronounced dead on the scene.
After Wilson’s death was ruled a homicide, Armstrong was briefly detained by police — before being released due to an invalid warrant. The next day, she reportedly sold her Jeep Grand Cherokee for 12,200 dollars, before hopping onto a flight to the East Coast. Per the US Marshals, she then used a fraudulent passport to catch another plane from Newark to San Jose, Costa Rica on May 18 — the day after Austin PD issued a homicide warrant for her arrest.
On Thursday, June 29, she was apprehended at a hostel in Santa Teresa Beach in Provincia de Puntarenas and will be deported and returned to the States.
“The Marshals Service elevated the Kaitlin Armstrong investigation to major case status early in this investigation, which likely played a key role in her capture after a 43-day run,” read a press release. “This is an example of combining the resources of local, state, federal and international authorities to apprehend a violent fugitive, bring an end to that run and hopefully a sense of closure to the victim’s family.”
The case was dubbed a “love triangle” after it was discovered Wilson briefly dated Armstrong’s boyfriend, 35-year-old professional cyclist Colin Strickland, while the two were on a break last year.
He told the Austin American-Statesman that he got back together with Armstrong after their fling, claiming that his relationship with Wilson then became a platonic one. Per the arrest affidavit, he said he did go swimming and grabbed dinner with Wilson the night of her murder — and hid it from Armstrong. He also told authorities he had changed Wilson’s name in his phone because Armstrong had blocked it and said he deleted texts with Wilson so she wouldn’t find them.
Wilson’s family later released a statement saying they felt it was “important to clarify that at the time of her death, those closest to her clearly understood, directly from Moriah, that she was not in a romantic relationship with anyone.”
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